A Nightly Talk (Dark Souls Short Story 6)
by MrsLittletall
Summary: Ciaran finds Ornstein late at night and wants to know what he is doing.


(Author's note: This piece can be viewn as a continuation of The Heritage, but it isn't needed to read this one in order to understand this story, it just gives some context.)

Ciaran enjoyed the nighttime. Her job as an assassin often would be done in the dark, so she felt right at home in the night. She enjoyed the stillness and the calm of the night, wandering the cathedral of Anor Londo, only coming along the occassional silver knight on night patrol. Even though most of the lights weren't lit by now, a few of them still burned and provided some more light. Not that she needed that light. She could see in the dark just fine, being so used to work in it. And while most people were amazed by the sight of the cathedral shining golden in the light, Ciaran always thought the dark version looked a lot more stunning. She often wandered around, taking in the sight and the calm of the night before heading to bed. Normally so late nobody expect the patrolling silver knights would be out anymore, so she was surprised when she saw a figure sitting on the stairs leading to the trophy room.

Ciaran carefully approached the figure but once she spotted that bright red ponytail she instantly knew who it was. What was Ornstein doing in the middle of the night here? He was dressed in some linen clothes, coloured green which did go well with his eyes of the same colour and was a nice contrast to his red hair. He also had some paper with him, stabilized by a book and appeared to be drawing on it. Ciaran herself was still wearing her armour set. Seeing that Ornstein had took the time to change into different clothes implied that he actually had been planning to end his day. She did get closer and sat down next to him.

"What are you doing?"

Ornstein startled at her voice, he seemed to have been very engrossed in his work. When he noticed that Ciaran sat beside his side, he stopped and answered: "Drawing?"

Well, if that wasn't obvious. She asked further: "Outside of your room?"

"The light here is better.", Ornstein answered. "I don't need to light a candle out here."

"It's the middle of the night?"

"I couldn't sleep well."

Ciaran sighed: "That still didn't answer why you are sitting out here in the middle of night drawing. Do I have to pull every single word out of you?"

"Well, maybe you should have been more specific.", Ornstein grumbled. "Artorias put a thought into my head earlier and I couldn't stop thinking about it. I thought drawing about it could help." He put his attention back on his drawing.

Ciaran wanted to know what he was drawing and took a look at the paper.

"The path of the dragon? That is an ancient practice. Nobody does this anymore. ... I guess you are partially responsible for this." She gave Ornstein a little nudge: "Right, dragon slayer?"

"Ciaran, now I made a mistake.", Ornstein said, sounding a bit irritated. "Now I have to start anew." He grabbed a fresh piece of paper which gave Ciaran now enough time to look at the drawing in detail.

"I don't think they had wings that large.", she said. "How should they be able to fly? They were said to resemble dragons, not being exactly like dragons."

"Fine, I make the wings smaller.", Ornstein said. "But they had tails and horns, right? Or did I draw the tail too long too?"

"I don't know that much about the path of the dragon. Like I said this is an ancient practice.", Ciaran admitted. "But judging from your picture you let them put their weight on the toes. When they are really walking like that they definitely need a tail for balance reasons. Why are you exploring the path of the dragon anyway? Seems widly ironic for you."

Ornstein spent a moment to put the finished touches on the drawing of the drake like figure, then put the pencil down: "I told you that Artorias put a thought in my head, right? He implied that I could have a dragon heritage."

"And where did Artorias get this idea? You are not looking like a hybrid to me.", Ciaran said.

"My teeth.", Ornstein said and showed the ones that looked like little fangs. "He based it from there and it actually made a lot of sense." He raised his hand again and started a second drawing right next to the first one.

"Wait, you are telling me these things are natural? I always thought you had sharpened them yourself to look more menacing. Which isn't the case by the way."

Ornstein put the pencil down and looked at Ciaran with a frown: "Ciaran, should I be offended by this or take it as a compliment?"

"Whatever you want.", she said with a smirk that couldn't be seen beneath her mask.

"I have the feeling I know exactly which face you are making right now.", Ornstein grumbled and took the pencil up again.

"But just by looking at your teeth he came up with dragon? Cats have teeth like this too and you remind me of a cat anyway. So maybe you just have a cat heritage? This also fits very well with your lion armour."

"Ciaran, by that logic Artorias would be a dog!"

That gave her an idea: "Oooh, could you draw Artorias as a dog?"

"What, wearing his armour set and all?", Ornstein said, scratching his head. But then he provided anyway on a fresh piece of paper. Ciaran glanced at the unfinished second drawing next to the drake. This figure looked a lot more humanoid but still had a tail, horns, claws, a full row of sharp teeth and some scales.

"Oh, I get it.", she concluded. "Artorias is thinking you could have some ancestors that walked the path of the dragon."

"Correct.", Ornstein nodded, not looking up from his drawing. She was under the impression he had actually fun doing this.

"But still...", Ciaran started. "It doesn't exactly have to be a dragon heritage. Who knows what people prayed to earlier? Maybe there was some cat deity around that got lost in history."

"Really? You think there were cat people around? Did they intimidate their foes with cuteness or what? Of course that would work with Artorias." He had finished the drawing and gave it to Ciaran. She was actually impressed. The drawn dog really resembled Artorias, he was shown excitedly panting and wagging his tail. And he even wore Artorias armour set in a dog version. "That's so cute...", she said.

"I guess even Artorias would like it. But I bet he would ask me to draw the other ones as animals too then." Ornstein picked up the drawing with the hybrids again and finished the second figure on it, then started a third.

Ciaran had let herself got distracted. "Wait, we were talking about something completely different!", she called out. "Cat hybrids."

"Yes and I was asking you if they planned to intimidate their foes with cuteness.", Ornstein said. The third figure took shape and now looked almost completely humanoid but still had some horns and large fangs.

"I doesn't have to be a house cat.," she admitted. "I was thinking about something bigger. Like a lion for example. After all, you are wearing armour designed after a lion and it looks very menacing."

"I can get behind this.", Ornstein took a new piece of paper and started another drawing.

"But why are you so worked up about this anyway? Why don't you just ask your parents about your ancestors?", Ciaran asked.

Ornstein stopped for a brief moment and shook his head: "... not possible."

Ciaran winced: "I am sorry, I didn't want to evoke bad memories..." She wondered if she just had found out why he was the dragon slayer.

"Don't worry about it. I have been over this for a long time now.", he said. He had finished his sketch and showed it to Ciaran: "Do you meant something like this?" The drawing showed a menacing looking lion warrior complete with mane, claws and teeth. "Exactly.", she said.

Ornstein was out of paper now. He put the book and the pencil down and stretched. "I think this really helped. Thanks for keeping me company, Ciaran."

"Oh, that wasn't any trouble. I like to stay up late anyway.", she said. "And let me say just one thing about this topic. It doesn't matter what your heritage is as long as you are happy with who you turned out to be."

Ornstein looked a bit surprised. She didn't even blame him. She normally wasn't the type for this kind of words. Then he smiled at her: "Thanks Ciaran, I'll keep that in mind." He stood up and started to collect his belongings. Ciaran looked at the drawing of dog Artorias she still held in her hands. "Can I keep this...?", she asked.

"Yes, of course.", Ornstein said. "Good night, Ciaran."

"Good night, Ornstein. And thanks..." This time a genuine smile had formed under her mask.


End file.
